AND
B. B. WOODWARD,
LONDON:
SWAN SONNENSCHEIN, Le BAS & LOWREY,
PATERNOSTER SQUARE.
The Selwood Printing Works
Frome, and London.
Algæ, popularly known as sea-weeds, although many speciesare inhabitants of fresh water, or grow on moist ground, maybe briefly described as cellular, flowerless plants, having noproper roots, but imbibing nutriment by their whole surfacefrom the medium in which they grow. As far as has beenascertained, the total number of species is about 9000 or 10,000.Many of them are microscopic, as the Desmids and Diatoms,others, as Lessonia, and some of the larger Laminariæ (oarweeds),are arborescent, covering the bed of the sea around the coastwith a submarine forest; while in the Pacific, off the northwesternshores of America, Nereocystis, a genus allied to Laminaria,has a stem over 300 feet in length, which, although notthicker than whipcord, is stout enough to moor a bladder, barrel-shaped,six or seven feet long, and crowned with a tuft of fiftyleaves or more, each from thirty to forty feet in length. Thisvegetable buoy is a favourite resting place of the sea otter; andwhere the plant exists in any quantity, the surface of the sea isrendered impassable to boats. The stem of Macrocystis, which"girds the globe in the southern temperate zone," is stated toextend sometimes to the enormous length of 1500 feet. It isno thicker than the finger anywhere, and the upper branchesare as slender as pack-thread; but at the base of each leaf thereis placed a buoy, in the shape of a vesicle filled with air.
Although the worthlessness of Algæ has been proverbial, asin the "alga inutile" of Horace and Virgil's "projecta vilioralga," they are not without importance in botanical economics.A dozen or more species found in the British seas are madeuse of, raw or prepared in several ways, as food for man.Of these edible Algæ, Dr. Harvey considers the two speciesof Porphyra, or laver, the most valuable. Berkeley says, "Thebest way of preparing this vegetable or condiment, which[Pg 4]is extremely wholesome, is to heat it thoroughly with a littlestrong gravy or broth, adding, before it is served on toast, asmall quantity of butter and lemon juice." A species of Nostocis largely consumed in China as an ingredient in soup. Asimilar use is made of Enteromorpha intestinalis in Japan.Many species of fish and other animals, turtle included, live